FDA-A.427:1-2014
Parts
Object number
FDA-A.427:1-2014
Object type
Identification
Title
Chapel Wall Painting
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
Description
South row (partial upper and complete lower register) of oil based paintings with 8 scenes, seperated by a niche, a half hexagon, with a saint
Some description of imagery which is now lost comes from the drawings made by Richard Hamilton Essex in 1847
Some description of imagery which is now lost comes from the drawings made by Richard Hamilton Essex in 1847
Description
Content (description)
South Wall:
Scenes (Upper):
The Assumption of the Virgin
The Jew at the Virgin's Funeral
Theophilus
St John of Damascus
The Columns Raised
Betrothal to the Image
St. Bonnet's Mass
The Jew of Bourges
Scenes (Lower): The Legend of the Empress falsely accused:
The Emperor Departs . His Brother Imprisoned
The Empress accused and condemned
Rescue of the Empress
Murder of the Child: the Empress banished
The Empress in the Island: her vision
The Knight's brother healed
The Emperor's brother healed
The Empress takes the veil
Saints (Upper):
St. Gabriel / St. Matthew? / St. Ambrose or St. Luke / St. Mark? / St. Augustine or St. John the Evangelist / St. Jerome or St. Matthew / St. Luke? / St.? (Jerome, Gregory or Mark?) / St. Gregory?
Saints (Lower):
St. Katherine / St. Barbara / St. Apollonia / St. Agnes / St. Ursula / St. Dorothea / St. Cecilia / St. Juliana / St. Winifred
Scenes (Upper):
The Assumption of the Virgin
The Jew at the Virgin's Funeral
Theophilus
St John of Damascus
The Columns Raised
Betrothal to the Image
St. Bonnet's Mass
The Jew of Bourges
Scenes (Lower): The Legend of the Empress falsely accused:
The Emperor Departs . His Brother Imprisoned
The Empress accused and condemned
Rescue of the Empress
Murder of the Child: the Empress banished
The Empress in the Island: her vision
The Knight's brother healed
The Emperor's brother healed
The Empress takes the veil
Saints (Upper):
St. Gabriel / St. Matthew? / St. Ambrose or St. Luke / St. Mark? / St. Augustine or St. John the Evangelist / St. Jerome or St. Matthew / St. Luke? / St.? (Jerome, Gregory or Mark?) / St. Gregory?
Saints (Lower):
St. Katherine / St. Barbara / St. Apollonia / St. Agnes / St. Ursula / St. Dorothea / St. Cecilia / St. Juliana / St. Winifred
Materials & techniques note
Linseed oil
Among the pigments used were white lead, carbon black, vermilion, lead-tin yellow and copper green
Among the pigments used were white lead, carbon black, vermilion, lead-tin yellow and copper green
Physical description
Paintings built up in tones of grey with lights and darks laid on top, and colour introduced into the details
Production
Date
1479-1487
History and association
Object history note
The work lasted c.8 years, with never more than 2 or 3 painters. In 1650 it is recorded that the Barber paid for whitewashing out the imagery. Work in the Chapel in 1847 revealed the paintings, of which the upper half of each upper row had been destroyed (except the south west corner) before the work was halted.
References
• Howe, Emily, H. McBurney, D. Park, S. Rickerby and L. Shekede, Wall Paintings of Eton, Scala, 2012
• Rosewell, Roger, The Eton College Chapel Wall Paintings: England's Forgotten Medieval Masterpieces, Boydell Press, 2012
• Gill, Miriam, The Wall Paintings in Eton College Chapel: The Making of a Late Medieval Marian Cycle, in 'Making Medieval Art', ed. P. Lindley, Donington, 2003
• Rosewell, Roger, The Eton College Chapel Wall Paintings: England's Forgotten Medieval Masterpieces, Boydell Press, 2012
• Gill, Miriam, The Wall Paintings in Eton College Chapel: The Making of a Late Medieval Marian Cycle, in 'Making Medieval Art', ed. P. Lindley, Donington, 2003
